A Central Government team, in its report to the Union Health Ministry, said on Tuesday that the rabies deaths reported in Kerala were not caused by ineffective vaccines. As many as 21 rabies deaths and 1.96 lakh dog bite cases have been reported in Kerala so far this year.
The Central team had recently visited Kerala to probe the cases after five people, bitten by dogs, died after taking the anti-rabies vaccine and the rabies immunoglobulin vaccine, leading to panic in the state. The death of five people due to dog bites in Kerala despite vaccinations recently had raised concerns about the efficacy of the anti-rabies vaccine and the rabies immunoglobulin vaccine. However, testing of the vaccines done at Kasauli stated that the vaccines were effective. The Kerala Government has also said that the efficacy of both the vaccines were tested and cleared as safe and effective. The Central team, in its report, said the majority of the deaths were "preventable", with "low awareness" in the event of animal bites being the primary cause of casualties. "None of the deaths could be attributed to vaccine/RIG quality, the report said," an official said.
"There has been delay in seeking time and appropriate animal bite management in the cases examined which might be attributed to not recognising the importance of timely and full rabies post exposure prophylaxis," the official further said. The report said intensive information, education and communication activities were required for all target audiences about do's and don'ts for animal bites management. "Deaths are also attributed to proper wound washing facility at animal bite management facilities even at tertiary care level and limited availability of ARV/ARS at peripheral health facility as only 30 per cent PHC and UHC were having ARV available and 3.5 per cent of all facilities were having ARS," the report said.
According to available data, India reported a total 72,77,523 cases of animal bites in 2019, which dropped to 46,33,493 in 2020 and 17,01,133 a year later. The first seven months of 2022, however, recorded more than 14.5 lakh cases.
In India, dogs are responsible for about 97 per cent of human rabies, followed by cats (2 per cent), jackals, mongoose and others (1 per cent). The disease is endemic throughout the country.